1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly, to a connector having a locking mechanism used for connection of wiring harnesses for vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a known connector having a locking mechanism. FIG. 7 is a side view of the connector of FIG. 6, which serves for explaining the operation of the locking mechanism.
In FIGS. 6 and 7, reference symbol a denotes a male connector housing, and reference symbol b denotes a female connector housing. On the one side wall of the male connector housing a, a locking arm c is provided, and on the corresponding side wall of the female connector housing b, a locking protrusion d cooperable with the locking arm c is provided.
The locking arm c is provided as a seesaw locking mechanism which can swing about an upright supporting portion C.sub.1 disposed at the intermediate portion. The locking arm c has a locking engagement portion C.sub.2 at the front and an operation portion C.sub.3 at the rear.
In this arrangement, when a pair of connector housings a and b are coupled with each other, the front of the locking arm c is urged upwardly along the guiding slope or cam surface d.sub.1 of the locking protrusion d. When it climbs over the locking protrusion d, the locking arm c is restored to an original form by the resiliency of the upright supporting portion C.sub.1 so that the locking engagement portion C.sub.2 engages with the locking protrusion d.
For unlocking, the operation portion C.sub.3 is pushed. Then, the locking engagement portion C.sub.2 is manually raised and is released from the engagement with the locking protrusion d so that the pair of connector housings a and b are separated from each other. In this case, if excessive pushing force is applied to the operation portion C.sub.3, the upright supporting portion C.sub.1 may be damaged. In order to prevent this, a mechanism for preventing application of excessive stress of the locking arm consisting of a fitting portion C.sub.4 and protrusion e is provided to prevent the shifting operation of the locking arm c over a predetermined limit.
The seesaw locking mechanism, as described above, has the following defect. Provision of the above mechanism for preventing application of excessive stress on the side of operation portion C.sub.3 requires the concerned housing, itself, to be extended. This leads to a tendency of increasing the size of the connector housing into a large-scaled element, which is a undesirable in design of the connector.